The Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) is now ready to introduce a
standard for halal food — food prepared in accordance with Islamic law
— the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

TSE President Tahir
Büyükhelvac?gil told Anatolia yesterday that the TSE has made good
progress and has now entered the last step in the process.

Büyükhelvac?gil
said he hopes TSE’s efforts will prove successful in the global halal
food market and underlined the importance of the halal market, noting
that halal products are in high demand globally. “The halal food market
has reached almost $50 million in size. We should take action to meet
the increasing global demand for halal food,” he said.

The TSE is
closely following global developments concerning halal food and is
working to be in line with these developments, the TSE president said,
underlining that Malaysia is one of the remarkable examples to have
become successful in this sector. Addressing criticism, namely, that a
halal food certificate will lead to unfair competition between
establishments with and without one, he said it is not obligatory to
sell halal food and that people are free to choose.

“In the long
run what is important is customer satisfaction. A standard for halal
foodstuffs is a need in the Turkish market like that of other Muslim
countries as well as countries around the world with Muslim
minorities,” he noted.

Introducing
halal foodstuffs standards in 2004, Malaysia has managed to secure a
$2.1 trillion market share worldwide. Seeing the potential, even
non-Muslim countries such as Vietnam have started to take important
steps to produce foodstuffs in conformity with the standards. The TSE
began work on introducing halal standards three years ago but was
stymied by bureaucratic factors. Last year the TSE stepped up
initiatives to meet increasing demand for halal food both globally and
domestically. The halal standards also regulate packaging,
transportation, labeling and the logistics of foods. In addition
preparation procedures are also analyzed to ensure their conformance
with halal standards.